We’re Hiring Our Next Executive Director The International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) is seeking a visionary and strategic Executive Director to lead our global mission. This full-time remote role is a unique opportunity to drive innovation, grow our community, and shape the future of sustainability as a profession. Application deadline: July 31, 2025 Job Description – Executive Director Location: Remote | Reports To: ISSP Board of Directors Position Type: Full-Time | FLSA Status: Exempt Organization Overview The International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) is the premier global community for sustainability practitioners. Our mission is to advance the sustainability profession through education, professional development, and certification. With members across industries and continents, ISSP provides vital resources, networking opportunities, and recognition for those working to make sustainability standard practice in organizations and communities worldwide. Position Summary ISSP seeks a visionary and strategic Executive Director (ED) to lead the organization into its next phase of growth and impact. The ED will be the driving force behind ISSP’s mission, responsible for strategic leadership, operational excellence, member engagement, and financial sustainability. This position offers the unique opportunity to shape the future of the sustainability profession at a global level. Resource Development The ED will lead the organization’s resource development strategy to ensure long-term financial sustainability and growth. The ED will be responsible for driving membership growth and ensuring a strong, engaged, and diverse member community. This includes developing and implementing strategies to attract new members, retain existing ones, and enhance the overall member experience. The ED will analyze membership trends, gather feedback, and work with staff and stakeholders to deliver valuable programs, benefits, and communications that meet the evolving needs of the community. A key focus will be on sustaining long-term member engagement and loyalty through consistent value delivery, relationship-building, and alignment with the organization’s mission and professional standards. Earned Revenue Leadership The ED will proactively identify and develop earned revenue opportunities that align with the organization’s mission and values. This may include expanding fee-based programs, certification offerings, educational products, events, and strategic partnerships that generate income while delivering value to members and stakeholders. The ED will assess market demand, pilot innovative initiatives, and ensure financial models are sustainable and mission-driven. By leveraging the organization’s expertise and brand, the Executive Director will build diversified revenue streams that enhance organizational resilience and impact. Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership Collaborate with the Board to refine and implement ISSP’s strategic direction. Lead vision-setting and innovation to advance the sustainability profession. Represent ISSP as a thought leader and ambassador to members, partners, and the public. Membership Growth & Engagement Drive strategies to grow, retain, and support ISSP’s global membership. Ensure high-quality member services, credential programs, and professional resources. Foster a vibrant and inclusive community of sustainability professionals. Program Oversight & Delivery Oversee certification programs, educational content, events, and member benefits. Ensure alignment of programs with member needs and the organization's mission. Continuously evaluate program effectiveness and member satisfaction. Operations & Financial Management Manage day-to-day operations, including a small remote team and vendor relationships. Develop and oversee the annual budget in collaboration with the Board Treasurer. Ensure financial health through efficient operations, revenue generation, and fundraising. Governance & Board Relations Serve as the primary liaison to the Board of Directors. Support board development and governance best practices. Provide transparent reporting and strategic insight to the Board. Qualifications Proven leadership in nonprofit, association, or membership-based organizations. 7+ years of progressive experience, including strategy, operations, and financial oversight. Passion for sustainability and a deep understanding of the profession. Strong communication, organizational, and relationship-building skills. Experience with remote teams, global stakeholders, and digital tools. Bachelors degree required; advanced degree in sustainability, nonprofit management, or a related field preferred. Compensation & Benefits ISSP offers a competitive compensation package commensurate with experience. Salary range will be $100,000 - $115,000/yearly depending upon experience. Benefits include flexible remote work, generous PTO, professional development support, and the opportunity to lead a mission-driven, global organization. How to Apply Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to EDSEARCH@sustainabilityprofessonals.org by July 31, 2025. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. ISSP is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all.

London Business School Professor Ioannis Ioannou, PhD examines the vulnerable narrative infrastructure surrounding ESG. By collaboratively engaging those most affected by ESG transitions—indigenous peoples, workers, young people, small businesses, and communities, particularly in the Global South—we can foster the trust, legitimacy, and collective commitment for meaningful progress. Who Gets to Tell the Story of ESG? For more than a decade, ESG rapidly evolved from a specialized investor consideration into an elaborate global infrastructure of standards, metrics, taxonomies, and disclosure frameworks. Investor attention soared, corporate sustainability teams grew exponentially, and ESG vocabulary— climate risk, fiduciary duty, and double materiality—became firmly embedded in corporate boardrooms and regulatory discussions globally. Yet, despite ESG’s impressive institutional and technical advancements, the narrative meant to support it remained remarkably fragile. While ESG developed sophisticated standards, disclosures, and metrics, it never invested in the narrative infrastructure to explain its purpose, build public understanding, or secure legitimacy beyond institutional circles. Without the broader stakeholder engagement and effective storytelling that would connect ESG to people’s lived realities, it became vulnerable. Critics didn’t need to challenge carbon accounting or materiality frameworks; instead, they recast ESG as a job killer, an elite agenda, or an unwelcome intrusion into everyday life. The backlash caught many ESG professionals off guard, though the warning signs were visible. ESG’s rapid adoption by investors and regulatory bodies created an illusion of momentum, but this obscured a deeper structural gap. ESG rarely connected meaningfully with those directly affected by ESG-driven transitions—workers facing disruption, small business owners adapting to shifting expectations, and communities, particularly in vulnerable regions, confronting real and immediate climate risks. For these groups, ESG often seemed abstract, distant, and disconnected from their daily concerns. Narrative infrastructure might sound like an unusual concept, but it's foundational to widespread support. It connects people and institutions, conveys meaning, and determines whether ESG is seen as genuine leadership or merely corporate branding. Robust narrative infrastructure ensures resilience under political pressure; without it, initiatives can rapidly lose whatever public approval they may have had. Constructing narrative infrastructure requires explicitly recognizing storytelling— and who contributes to that storytelling—as integral to ESG strategy, not simply a communications exercise. Effective narratives generate trust precisely because they emerge from transparent dialogue, clear accountability, and inclusive stakeholder engagement. By contrast, greenwashing uses storytelling deceptively, aiming to conceal poor performance, and deflect scrutiny. Strong narrative infrastructure, unlike greenwashing, strengthens credibility and legitimacy by openly connecting ESG commitments to shared realities, tangible actions, and measurable outcomes. It is a fundamental strategic asset for ESG success. Importantly, narrative infrastructure also concerns who gets to tell these stories. Over the last decade, the central narrators of the ESG story have largely been institutional actors: executives, investors, sustainability professionals, academics, and regulators. Their contributions have been invaluable, driven by expertise, rigor, and genuine commitment. Yet these narrators also represent a relatively narrow perspective, shaped by institutional backgrounds and professional incentives. Many important voices have remained largely excluded from shaping ESG narratives: indigenous people whose lives are often fundamentally changed by corporate activities, workers whose livelihoods are directly impacted by ESG transitions, young people deeply invested in future outcomes, small businesses continuously adapting to new ESG-related requirements, and especially communities—particularly in the Global South —directly facing the worst of climate disruptions. While these stakeholders' experiences occasionally appear within ESG reporting, they seldom influenced strategy or shape decisions in a substantial way. This exclusion poses significant, practical risks. Stakeholders naturally resist initiatives perceived as imposed from above or disconnected from their lived realities—not necessarily because they oppose ESG’s goals, but because they feel unheard and invisible within such ESG narratives. The resistance appears as political backlash, active public scepticism, or disengagement, all severely undermining ESG’s legitimacy, effectiveness, and public support. Addressing this critical weakness requires deliberately building ESG’s narrative infrastructure through inclusive, collaborative, and ongoing engagement. Practically, companies should move beyond occasional or reactive consultations toward sustained processes where stakeholders actively shape strategies. This can involve establishing community advisory boards with real decision-making power, participatory scenario planning that integrates diverse local perspectives, and internal cross-functional councils that ensure workers, communities, and youth voices directly influence ESG outcomes. Such sustained, authentic collaboration bridges the gap between institutional intentions and genuine public legitimacy. Within companies, narrative stewardship should not be limited to corporate communications or sustainability departments alone. Effective ESG storytelling depends on regular, structured collaboration across multiple functions—including strategy, human resources, procurement, product development, and finance—to ensure ESG commitments align authentically with core business decisions and reflect real-world stakeholder experiences. Companies can institutionalize this collaboration by creating dedicated cross-functional ESG committees tasked with integrating diverse internal perspectives, monitoring stakeholder feedback, and ensuring ESG initiatives clearly connect to tangible social outcomes. At an institutional level, building ESG narrative infrastructure involves establishing platforms that broaden participation in ESG discourse. It requires supporting initiatives that improve public understanding of ESG standards and practices, funding research that evaluates public perceptions of ESG alongside traditional financial metrics and ensuring ESG disclosures transparently reflect diverse stakeholder concerns. ESG narrative legitimacy grows stronger when diverse perspectives genuinely shape how ESG commitments are determined and communicated, implemented, and monitored—not merely as token inclusions, but as integral, strategic components of ESG itself. Regulators have an essential role in shaping ESG narrative infrastructure. Current ESG disclosure standards typically prioritize technical accuracy and financial materiality, mostly targeting investor needs. Broadening these frameworks to explicitly incorporate public legitimacy could significantly enhance ESG’s impact. For example, regulators could introduce clear criteria assessing whether companies effectively communicate their ESG strategies to diverse stakeholders and evaluate how these communications influence brand value and reputational risk—approaches already emerging in Europe’s Green Claims Directive and the CSRD/ESRS focus on double materiality. Additionally, policy evaluations could systematically measure whether ESG initiatives are genuinely perceived as fair, inclusive, and beneficial by the communities they affect. Public support and trust require deliberate and continuous effort; they cannot be assumed or taken for granted. Fortunately, inspiring examples of effective ESG narrative infrastructure already exist. Companies like Patagonia have openly integrated supplier and worker voices into their ESG narratives, transparently highlighting labour practices and sourcing standards, significantly enhancing their credibility. Unilever’s inclusive “living wage” campaigns have similarly leveraged stories from frontline workers to connect ESG metrics with tangible social outcomes, strengthening stakeholder trust. Industry-specific initiatives, such as the Bangladesh Accord in apparel, demonstrate how authentically incorporating diverse stakeholder experiences—including employees, unions, and community representatives—into ESG reporting can reinforce accountability and legitimacy. These examples highlight how inclusive storytelling, grounded in genuine stakeholder participation, can transform ESG commitments from abstract promises into credible actions with real-world impact. ESG professionals now face an exciting strategic opportunity: intentionally building a narrative infrastructure that's genuinely inclusive, collaborative, and resilient. Yes, involving diverse stakeholders means navigating complexity, dialogue, and occasionally tough compromises. It also means embracing participatory processes that might feel messier or less predictable. But it's exactly this diversity of voices and collective authorship that generates persuasive, robust narratives—ones that not only resonate widely but can confidently withstand shifts in politics, culture, and public sentiment. Beyond strengthening ESG's narrative infrastructure, it's important for ESG professionals to step back and consider sustainability more broadly. By explicitly linking ESG narratives to overarching sustainability objectives—such as respecting planetary boundaries and enabling a just transition—professionals can better illustrate how financial markets, corporate strategies, and policy frameworks actively support broader ecological and social well-being. Making these broader connections explicit can deepen trust, enhance engagement, and ensure the interconnected ESG-sustainability story resonates meaningfully with all those whose futures depend on it. We stand at a turning point, facing a critical opportunity to strengthen ESG’s narrative foundations. While ESG’s narrative fragility has been clearly exposed, this moment also offers an inspiring chance to intentionally build a more inclusive, credible, and resilient narrative infrastructure. The future of sustainability depends not only on rigorous metrics or detailed disclosures, but ultimately on whether those whose lives are impacted recognize themselves clearly in its story. By authentically amplifying diverse voices, explicitly connecting ESG initiatives to broader sustainability goals, and developing narratives rooted in real-world experiences, we can foster the trust, legitimacy, and collective commitment necessary for meaningful and lasting progress.